Welcome to the Weighted Lottery!
COVID-19 River Update, Feb-25-2021. Grand Canyon National Park's COVID-19 Mitigation Phase for River Use will move from "Medium" to "Light" restriction level on April 1, 2021. Where the "Medium" level allowed for up to 75% of summer use levels, the "Light" restriction level allows 100% river use while continuing key COVID-19 Safety Mitigation requirements. (details at https://grcariverpermits.nps.gov/pdf/COVID-19_River_Update.pdf)
TWO-YEAR DEFERMENTS. Due to the pandemic, a temporary exception to the no deferment rule has been implemented for permittees who obtained a launch date prior to March 2020 for a launch to occur before the end of August 2021. These permittees have until 70 days before their original launch date to request a 2-year deferment (the replacement launch date will be exactly 2-years later). The deferment option is NOT available for trip leaders who obtained permits after March 2020 - they knew about COVID-19, understood their trips could not be deferred, and applied for dates vacated by others who had accepted a 2-year launch date deferment. Deferment is not an option for these trip leaders.
FOLLOW-UP LOTTERIES. Follow-up lotteries will be used to re-release launch dates made available due to cancellations or deferments. These re-released launch dates cannot be deferred, and those who apply are expected to be aware of potential COVID-19 risks and take appropriate precautions.
For status updates regarding open and closed areas of Grand Canyon National Park visit https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/grand-canyon-national-park-public-health-update.htm
Lotteries
- OPEN: 2021 Follow-up Lottery, 3-4-2021
- open: Mar 2, 2021
- close: Mar 4, 2021, 12pm (noon) MST
If you have a profile, login:
...or, if you have never visited this site before, create a profile.
Anyone applying for a noncommercial Colorado River rafting trip (or listed as a PATL on one) must have a profile in this system!
There are three ways to know a lottery has opened.
- in your profile, opt-in to receive email notifications
- subscribe to our RSS feed
- follow us at www.twitter.com/GCRiverPermits (opens in new window)
Use this website to submit lottery applications for noncommercial Colorado River rafting permits:
- Create and manage your user profile, which contains your contact information, points, river trip history, and all lottery applications you've submitted or are listed on.
- Create and submit a lottery application for a noncommercial (private) river trip when a lottery is open.
- Pay lottery application costs.
In addition, you may also use this website to:
- Opt-in to receive notifications via email of upcoming lotteries.
- Make changes to your pending lottery application at any time before the lottery closes.
- Monitor the status of your pending lottery application, i.e., make sure payments were successful, verify Potential Alternate Trip Leaders (PATLs) have confirmed their PATL status, and double-check your lottery application.
- Find out whether or not your application was successful in a lottery.
- Fill out and submit your noncommercial river permit application, complete a trip participant list, and pay permit costs (if you won a launch date in a lottery).
For more information about the weighted lottery visit www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/weightedlottery.htm (opens in new window) or contact us at 800-959-9164 or 928-638-7843 (8am-noon MST, Mon-Fri) or grca_riv(insert the at symbol here)nps(insert a dot here)gov.
Permitting Process Overview
The following is a quick overview of the permitting process. A more detailed description of each step in the application and permitting process is given here.
Step 1: Create a profile. All persons listed as either a trip leader or a Potential Alternate Trip Leader (PATL) on a river lottery application must have a user account (profile) in this system.
Step 2: Login and create your application. Once you have a profile (and a lottery is open), you can login at any time before the lottery is run to create and submit a lottery application.
Step 3: Submit your completed application. All PATLs listed on your application must login to this system and accept their PATL status before the lottery drawing date; PATLs failing to do so will not be included in your lottery application.
Step 4: Pay launch year lottery application cost. A completed application is not active until costs are paid. Lottery applicants are required to pay a lottery application cost once per launch year. Once an application cost has been paid for a launch year, you can apply in all later lotteries for that launch year for no additional fee. Pay the lottery application cost through this website.
Step 5: Lottery occurs on designated date. After the lottery, you will be notified of the success/failure of your lottery application by email. You can login at any time to view the status of your lottery application. If you win a launch date, you pay a trip deposit.
Step 6: Complete a river permit application, draft trip participant list, and pay final permit costs. If successful in the lottery, you will complete a noncommercial river permit application and pay your river permit costs. You will also submit a draft trip participant list. All of these are done online through this website. (detailed cost information can be found on the FAQ page at How much are permit costs?)
Step 7: River permit is issued. When the above steps are complete, the Grand Canyon River Permit Office will issue your river permit.